End of a Decade

A month or so ago, I started thinking about the past decade. Paul and I agree that this is the defining decade of our lives - so many big changes have happened in our lives in the past 10 years. I can't imagine a bigger decade. So I thought I'd do a little recap of the good and bad.

New Year's Eve 1999-2000- Paul and I had been dating for almost a year. We went to a formal New Year's Eve party thrown by his best friend's father-in-law. It was small but elegant and such a great way to start the new decade - and a great way to laugh at the Y2K rumors of what would happen at the stroke of midnight.

New Year's Eve 1999

2000- The only major events in this year were both my mom and Paul's dad being diagnosed with cancer - my mom with colon cancer and Paul's dad with lung cancer.

2001- The year started out very calmly. Then we got engaged in July, Paul's dad passed away in August, and Sept. 11 changed our way of thinking. It was kind of a whirlwind 6 week period that defined the year.

Paul's dad

2002- In January we started looking for a house to buy. By February 28 we were having our closing. In August we got married.

Our first house

August 3, 2002
with my parents and Paul's mom and Gram

2003- Chris and Patti got married in April. In August Paul and I celebrated our first anniversary in Cape Cod - a place we fell in love with. The last Phillies game in Veteran's Stadium occurred in September - the end of an era for baseball games.

Chris and Patti's wedding

Sitting at our bed and breakfast in Cape Cod.

The final Phillies game at Veteran's Stadium

2004-On March 19 Max was born. On March 23 my mom passed away. In August Paul and I made our second trip to Cape Cod - we haven';t been back since but are dying to go. In September we attended our first baseball game at the new Citizens Bank Park. In November we all (minus Max) went to New York City for a weekend to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday.

Bill with our new nephew

My mom and dad



Bill and Renee in NYC

2005- In February Paul and I went to DisneyWorld with Chrissy and her family. In July, we went to Albany to celebrate my aunt's 50th anniversary as a sister and then spent a day in Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Later in the summer we officially started the adoption process, something we had been thinking about for months. Even before all our preliminary paperwork was completed, we accepted the referral of Luis Diego (Jimmy) in September. In November, just before Thanksgiving, we found out Jimmy had been sick and passed away. In December we were told Rudy had just been born and we accepted his referral.

Paul and I with Chrissy and Goofy.

My Aunt Dorrie and Uncle Paul and Paul and I with my Aunt Barbara for her anniversary.

Paul and I in Cooperstown

Luis Diego (Jimmy)

Rudy- days old

2006-This was a big year for traveling. In July we visited Rudy for the first time. He was 7 months old. In August we traveled with my family to spend a week in Ocean City Maryland. In November we went back to Guatemala with some of my family, to celebrate Rudy's first birthday (and Thanksgiving). This was the year we spent the 2 major American holidays (Independence Day and Thanksgiving) in Guatemala.

Rudy, 7 months

Ocean City, MD

Max, 2 1/2, Chris and Rudy 1 year

2007- Once again in January we thought a little about moving, looked at one house and fell in love, and moved in mid-February. In June we went again to visit Rudy - this time spending an amazing week in Antigua, where we were free to walk around the city and leave the hotel. While in Antigua, Lucy was born. In September Bill and Renee got married and a week later, we left for our final trip to Guatemala to bring Rudy home. About 2 months after Rudy came home, I started this blog.

Our second house ( a view from the back)

In Antigua, Guatemala, Rudy 19 mos.

Lucy

Renee and Bill, Chris and Patti and me and Paul at Bill & Renee's wedding

Rudy at home

2008- This was a pretty quiet year. We spent a week in August in the Outer Banks with my family.

2009- This was the summer of a few weekend trips. We went to Washington, DC to meet with some families who adopted from Guatemala and used the same agency we did. We went near New York to a Guatemalan Adoptive Families Event and then spent a day in New York City. We spent another weekend in DC to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday.

Rudy and friends from Guatemala




Meeting an 'old' computer friend for the first time

In DC for Dad's 75th birthday


New Year's Eve 2009-2010- Quite different from how we rang in the beginning of the last decade, we had a quiet night with friends. Here's to another wonderful decade with my husband.

Rudyisms

After spending a few hours at the mall, getting pictures taken and waiting for tires to be put on the car, Rudy was very cranky as we drove home. As he negotiated about bedtime when he got home this is what we heard:

But I love you, Mommy. I don't want to be away from you. I want to stay with you all night.

He frequently uses I love you as his reasoning for doing or not doing something. And often offers to give us presents or be our friend if we do what he wants.

"My brain can't remember the one that goes ' don't cry' ". He wanted to sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

Gato now has a family to keep him company. Kitten (which he got for Halloween from Grandmom and Gram) is the baby. Gato is Kitten's Mommy and Beary is Kitten's Poppy. A few other dolls are sometimes recruited to be a brother, a sister or a cousin, too.

"When I grow up can you get me a dress and a cape like Batman?"
"Sure."
"And glasses."







"Does your radio work or did I put money in it like Poppy's?" (See this post for the story of the money.)
" Mine works."
"Why did I put money in there?"
"I don't know why did you?"
"I thought it wasn't real."





Rudy has been telling us how he and Grandma Sheila used to do things together in Guatemala. Most recently he said they watched a movie with a witch but he wasn't scared because Grandma Sheila doesn't do dishes or check her email during the movie.




Out of the blue after dinner: "First of all, I love Mommy. Second of all, I love everybody in the house. Except Smokey. Because she growls at me."

Four Years Old

Previous birthdays in review:
First birthday- celebrated in Guatemala at the Westin.



Second birthday - home just about a month

Third birthday -

Fourth birthday -

You can really see how much he has thinned out - especially his face - and grown over the years. Our baby is officially a little boy!

Rudyisms

Recently heard:
Singing ... I hope, I hope (hi ho, hi ho)

Are we going through the troll?

Rudy recently told me our car is old and we need to get a new one. I told him that would be nice but cars cost a lot of money. His solution was to go out and buy lots and lots of money, then we could buy a car.

McDonald's, in Rudy speak, is Old McDonald's.

Rudy told us that Grandma Sheila visited him in Guatemala. I like to think she did.

When Rudy got a haircut, he had conversations with me and Paul that were almost identical:
We complimented him on his haircut and he said "it looks like Michael". When we asked if Michael was someone at school, he said "no, he's in Guatemala". He then said that Michael is a girl. We have no idea who or what he's talking about but it was odd that he told Paul and I the same thing at different times.

Rudy talks all the time about Kindergarten. I think because his cousin and another friend both started Kindergarten this year. Many conversations include the phrase "when I go to Kindergarten".

Rudy loves to pretend he is a princess and usually makes us pick a princess to be too. He likes Belle, I was Cinderella and Paul was Pocahontas. All this involves is replying to Rudy when he calls us by our 'princess' name and listening to him say at least once a day "We're still Princesses." Of course, this is in between when he's being Bad Spiderman or Batman.

Rudy told his teacher that he used to eat oatmeal in Guatemala and now he eats it here. This was a surprise to me since he won't go near oatmeal!

Two Years!!

Two years ago today, Paul and I arrived in Guatemala ready to finally bring Rudy home. You can read what I wrote about that day here.

It's amazing to know that Rudy has been with us for two whole years. We have had him with us, longer than he was not with us. I don't know where the time has gone. I can very clearly remember the joy and chaos that came with Rudy coming home. It was such a transition - more for Paul and I than for Rudy. Paul still has nightmares about that time, I think (ask him what he thinks about kids aged 18-24 months and his feelings about adopting that age again).

Here are my favorite pictures from that trip:

popeye

Best picture ever of the curls and a smile.

Mio - Mine!

Poppy's boy right from the start

Eating papas fritas - shortly after his foster mother left.

A celebratory dinner at the Italian restaurant at the Marriott.

A family together

Six months, part 3

Six months ago today - October 11 - we left Guatemala WITH Rudy. It certainly made for a happier return trip than the 3 previous times! Our flight out of Guatemala was early afternoon so we left the hotel on the shuttle mid-morning. Rudy was very tired and cranky as we waited for the shuttle and we could only imagine what that meant for our trip. But he fell asleep in Paul's arms as we waited in line at the ticket counter. Fortunately the airport was not crowded at all - especially compared to some other times when we've stood in lines for hours- because Rudy slept as we walked through the airport, paid our exit tax, went through security and found our gate. Once we got to the gate, we sat Rudy in his car seat and he continued to sleep. Once he woke up he was in a much better mood and enjoyed looking at the airplanes.

Here he is on his first flight. He did really well in the car seat - especially since it was his first experience with one (we got smart and had it out and played with it in the hotel so he thought it was fun).

Toward the middle of the flight he got antsy and we let him get out of the seat and stand up and look around. He wasn't happy when he had to go back in it, but he did very well. We had decided to spend the night in Atlanta before heading home because otherwise we would have gotten home at midnight or later. So we took the shuttle to our hotel, had dinner, and settled in for the night.

Six months, part 2

Six months ago today - October 9 - we had our appointment at the US Embassy in Guatemala for Rudy's visa. We had to leave out hotel at 6:30am with our translator and another couple and their daughter for a short but terrifying ride through Guatemala City (where stop signs and lights often seem to just be suggestions!). At the Embassy there were a lot of Guatemalans outside waiting to go in but we were able to go right in. We went into a room that had 50 or 60 folding chairs set up in rows and about 8 or 9 windows for business. Our translator handled everything and we just sat and waited. Most of the people in this room were Americans with their Guatemalan children - most young enough to be carried around in carriers. We had one of the few kids not content to just sit and wait. We were fortunate, though, to sit next to a nice Guatemalan man who was more than happy to look at animal pictures with Rudy and name them for him in Spanish (and teach Paul and I how to say them in Spanish). After waiting a while, we were called to go into a tiny room where a worker for the Embassy sat across from us, leafed through our file, and asked us maybe one question (he may have asked if we visited Rudy but I'm not sure). Then he said "oh" as if he saw something unusual or that surprised him - not a sound you want to hear at this point. But immediately after he said he was approving our application for a Visa. Not sure what the "oh" was for but it sure scared Paul and I.

Then we went back into the room and sat some more until we were called to one of the windows. At this window a nice woman asked some questions about our process and seemed very interested in what we had to say - a surprise considering she was a US Government worker and probably did the same thing day after day. The best part of talking to her was we were able to air our feelings about our agency - we had even prepared a letter ahead of time to present to them with our feelings about our agency. Once we finished here we were done and just had to wait a few more minutes for the couple we traveled with to be done. We were back in our hotel by about 10:00 or 10:30, relieved that the last big hurdle was over and we were almost on our way home. The next afternoon we received Rudy's visa and were free to finally bring him back to the US!

When we arrived back at the hotel after the Embassy appointment we were starving but it was too early for lunch so we went to get a snack from the hotel store. Rudy insisted on picking out his own bag of "titas" (Short for galletitas- meaning crackers or snacks) and ended up picking hot spicy chips. He didn't seem to have any problem eating them.

Six months, part 1

Six months ago today - on October 6th - Paul and I woke up very early to drive an hour to the airport to catch a very early flight to Atlanta and then on to Guatemala. We had no problems on the flights and had a wonderful time realizing that after sitting in the same terminal 3 times in Atlanta waiting to go visit Rudy that the next time we sat there waiting for a flight to Guatemala we would be traveling with Rudy - on a visit trip to his country in the future. We arrived on time in Guatemala only to discover that not 2 of our pieces of luggage didn't make it. There had been a mix up and our luggage tags were put on someone else's luggage, so his luggage was in Guatemala without him and ours was still in Atlanta without us. The airline assured us it should be on the flight the next day so off we went to the hotel. Of course, the bags missing were all of Rudy's clothes, diapers, toys, snacks, etc. and his car seat for the plane ride home.

We made it to the hotel with time to spare before Rudy was to arrive. Now we had to decide what to do since we didn't have anything for him. We knew we could buy some necessities at the hotel for that night and then go shopping the next day if needed. Rudy finally arrived and we discovered that his foster mother had sent him with only two outfits, a few diapers, and 1 bottle. One of the outfits was the one he came in seen here.

Not very easy to wear around. The other down side was the shoes - they were nice dress shoes but very clunky and Rudy had a hard time walking in them. So we bought diapers and wipes in the hotel store and went to dinner.

The next morning Paul walked to the local mall to get shoes for Rudy - not an easy task when you don't know spanish, don't know his shoe size, and don't want to take him out of the hotel. Fortunately our cell phones worked in Guatemala and Paul was able to call me and try to guestimate his shoe size - we were successful enough for Rudy to have shoes for the duration of the trip that he could walk in. And Paul took the hotel shuttle to the airport the following day to pick up our luggage - which arrived as scheduled.

Happy Birthday, Max

Rudy and his cousin Max have been buddies since they first met in Guatemala for Rudy's first birthday.

Max has had quite a year and he's shown what a big boy he is. Last March, Max was the only child, grandchild, niece or nephew in the family. In June his sister, Lucy, was born and in October Rudy came home. He went from having all the attention to himself to having to share it with two other kids. But he came through it and is a great big brother and big cousin. I can only imagine the things he'll be teaching Lucy and Rudy in the future!